"Ahh ! It's so hot... Why do you have to do this every single week uncle..?"
"Call me captain, my dear squire. Checking up of my men once in a while is a necessary exercise to maintain a good command."
"What's the point if they already know you are coming..?"
"It's not an inspection nephew, just a friendly reminder that I am looking over them."
The prince of Faerunia sighed and pouted but continued following in the footsteps of his uncle who was also the best knight in the kingdom. Still the fruitless exercise of just walking around the city in this heat was going to kill Alexander in some hours for sure.
However the anticipated death eluded him and they continued like this patrolling around the city meeting all the security teams. The man clad in the steel armor all smiling and jovial while the boy following him constantly pouting and irritated.
All around the city people were walking around as if they all had to do something urgent immediately. Alexander swore that when he became a knight he would never walk around in the heat for no reason at all. Walking constantly with his little armor on his body and a short sword on his waist which was a gift from his father, Alexander did his job as the squire of the best knight in the kingdom – Sir Gareth Neremyst, The Hell-storm. Who was also the younger brother of his queen mother.
"Having fun there, Alex..?"
"Really uncle...? Sarcasm..? Didn't you just tell me yesterday that it was clever people's subtle mockery..?"
"That was the intention, my young squire..."
Alexander wanted to get his short sword and stab the man in his behind but then he took a deep breath and tried to calm down. His anger was one of the many things that his uncle had recently made a habit of testing at every chance he got ever since he made him his squire.
"Just half the city left now..."
And patience was another.
Dragging his feet behind the gallant knight captain of the king's guard Alexander tried his best to take his mind off the heat by looking around and the thing he saw made his eyes wide in surprise. A small boy, even smaller than him was fighting against a girl in the battle of mages it seemed, since neither one was moving from their place just chanting and aiming with their hands.
"Ohh.. What do we have here..?"
Alexander knew that his uncle must have noticed them way before he did and was just acting, but his such behavior indicated that there was more to it than what met the eyes and so he focused some more and after carefully looking Alexander almost swore at the scene in front of him but stopped himself midway, afraid that his uncle would punish him for saying such things in front of him.
The girl had black hair and a bit weird clothes, but her face was the same old familiar face of his beautiful older sister. Someone was throwing spells after spells towards his sister..? Bastard had lived enough.
Before his uncle could say two words to stop him Alexander charged towards the little miscreant with his short sword raised high while powered by his advanced movement technique and attacked the unknown assailant.
"YOU BASTARS !!!"
Both mages were surprised by the sudden attack and stopped chanting, the young boy after staring at him for some seconds in daze took out a sword from somewhere in an instant and got in the proper stance to receive his attack. Alexander was surprised to see the unknown stranger react so calmly against his fierce attack. The attack landed and it did push the kid back a few steps but the miscreant instantly changed his footwork and threw Alexander on the side using his own weight.
"What the hell..?"
He heard the strange kid say while throwing him away which reflected Alexander's thoughts more than his. Alexander landed on his foot maintaining his form perfectly.
"Who are you people..?"
By now his uncle had walked besides him and gripped his shoulder real tight. Alexander knew his uncle was really gonna punish him for not listening to him earlier but he had to save his sister.
"Sorry about that little friend, My nephew was just too excited to see people fighting."
"What are you two morons doing here..?"
"Should I go..?"
The strange kid looked real pale and was being really sneaky but Alexander had many questions to ask yet.
"No !"
"Not yet..."
"Wait a second..."
It seems like his sister and uncle also had some questions of their own.
"Maximus, this is my little brother and this is my uncle."
"Uhmm.. Hello..?"
The strange kid looked real weird, he didn't even perform the curtsy of the commoners towards nobility. Alexander already hated the guy.
*****
Damian wanted to curse with a mic and speakers. First his so called 'teacher' demanded that he gave an exam of what he had learned. Even though it barely passed two days since she started showing off her spells not to mention she didn't even show a single spell twice and he already had to show her what he learned..
That wasn't the worst thing though, the sheer pressure of mana energy that was being emitted by the handsome knight was nauseating to Damian. It was twice the size of what that burned knight captain had back in Ravensong. Damian knew the duo were no ordinary people, and it seems like his 'teacher' was also way more trouble than what he bargained for.
That amount of mana meant the knight was transcendent ranked and if he was their uncle, the family must be crazy strong. Damian just wanted to turn around and run like hell, he did not want to deal with another high leveled nobility again. He knew Sheela was a bad news from the start but Damian did not expect her to be top tier nobility, he always thought she was just some strange daughter of a minor lord. He had to get out of here as soon as possible before he would be caught up in a weird mess.
"How dare you raise your hand against my sister, you little miscreant..? know your place.."
The kid who surprise attacked him was going red from anger which looked really funny on his young face.
"Shut up Alex! He is my student... I was teaching him spells... I am his teacher you know..?"
And of course she was bragging for some reason, which seemed to make the young kid even angrier and he glared at Damian and rammed his foot against the ground below and pointed his little finger at Damian's nose.
"If he is your student I want to fight him, it's just a practice right..? It should be fine..?"
'Wait, what? Say no, you dumb girl.. say no...'
"Hmmm... That sounds okay I think... I was just checking him anyway.. A swordsman might be better opponent that a mage..."
"What? No.. I refuse. I wanna go home!"
The young knight was really staring at him and Damian felt really creeped out in this situation he just wanted to leave.
"What did you say, you little squirt..?"
"Now.. now.. my squire.. Is that how you challenge someone for a duel..?"
'What duel? What was this guy talking about?'
The way the knight was smiling as if having so much fun was really disturbing for Damian's little heart. And by the look of the knight and his squire's face it doesn't seem like he could just talk them down. The knight obviously wanted to test his skills, and his 'teacher' clueless like an idiot was nodding along as if he said the most profound thing ever.
The angry boy raised his sword and pointed at Damian's face while making a serious expression.
"I, Alexander Thaddeus Seablaze, challenge you warrior to a duel, with water in my veins and the fury of the tempest in my soul, ready to clash like storm-driven waves against an unyielding shore."
'F*ck!! Did he say Seablaze..? The goddam king of Faerunia Thaddeus Seablaze..?!'